If Amendment One passes, what’s next? It would mark the first time the North Carolina constitution was amended in order to discriminate against specific individuals. This flies in the face of the state’s tradition of amending the constitution to increase equality.

Same-sex marriage is already illegal in North Carolina. Which means voting AGAINST Amendment One is not a vote to legalize same-sex marriage.

Amendment One (SB514) is a proposed change to Article 14 of the North Carolina State Constitution that will appear before the voters on the May 8, 2012 primary ballot across North Carolina. Amendment One is not only an ideological assault on the civil rights of LGBT North Carolinians, it’s also a poorly

written law that will have serious negative, unintended and harmful consequences on North Carolina’s children, families, seniors, women and businesses.

Stating that, “Marriage between a man and a woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State,” Amendment One aims to turn all unmarried couples — whether same-sex or opposite-sex — into second-class citizens unworthy of basic dignity and fair treatment.

There are 222,832 unmarried couples in North Carolina. Of them, 89,537 have children. This amendment could make it impossible for parents in these committed, but unmarried relationships, to provide health care benefits to children in their household. It could also interfere or invalidate child custody and visitation rights — sadly putting children’s lives in the crossfire of a misguided constitutional rewrite.

Amendment One bans all legal relationship recognitions besides marriage — prohibiting North Carolina from ever recognizing civil unions and domestic partnerships…affecting opposite-sex couples, too. Amendment One could interfere with protections for all unmarried couples: to visit one another in the hospital; to make emergency medical and financial decisions if one partner is incapacitated; wills, trusts, medical powers of attorney; private employer healthcare benefits; and domestic partnership benefits offered by many municipalities.

Many older people who have previously lost spouses, but find love later in life never remarry, even though they are committed to their new partner. They do this to protect the benefits their previous spouse earned including health care, pensions, and Social Security, and Amendment One may put those benefits in jeopardy.

According to the Attorney General, leading experts at Duke and UNC law schools, and the state's Women's Commission, domestic violence protections for unmarried women could be declared unconstitutional because Amendment One legally recognizes only married couples as a family. A dangerous step backward for our state, unmarried women’s lives and safety would be left vulnerable to their attackers and stalkers. This isn’t hypothetical — it already happened in Ohio. Step up for your daughter, sister, co-worker, or friend, and protect the women you love by voting AGAINST Amendment One.

Amendment One may affect the ability of private sector businesses to enforce their own domestic partner benefit contracts. The larger economic impact, however, may be based on the negative perception of North Carolina as a place to live and do business. As reported by The Charlotte Observer, 75 CEOs — including the heads of several Fortune 500 companies — sent an open letter to state legislators opposing the measure because it will have numerous direct, harmful effects on their businesses and the entire state’s economy.

As an egregious attempt to get this constitutional rewrite passed by single-issue voters, legislators scheduled Amendment One for a referendum vote on May 8, the same day as the North Carolina Republican presidential primary.

However, YOU DO NOT have to be a registered Republican to vote on May 8. Every North Carolina citizen with a valid voter registration card can vote AGAINST Amendment One, no matter your political affiliation.

Don’t miss your chance to make history, and not repeat it. Remember, separate is never equal.

Use this helpful precinct locator to find your voting location and vote AGAINST Amendment One on May 8.

Early Voting Instructions
Unable to make it to the polls on May 8? No Problem. North Carolina allows early voting through Saturday, May 5. Early voting has already begun. (There will be no voting on May 6-7.)

Opposition to Amendment One is broad and bipartisan. Maybe that’s because constitutions are designed to protect rights and not take them away. The rights of a minority should never be put to a majority vote.

Those who stand against Amendment One come from all political parties, all religious sects, and all corners of North Carolina. Here are just some of the voices that oppose this unnecessary constitutional amendment.

Join the countless business leaders, religious organizations,
political groups, families and concerned citizens who stand against
discrimination and against civil rights violations.

Amendment One is a topic of enormous interest in North Carolina. Because of the polarizing nature of the issue, it has presented a fragmented view of the pros and cons to North Carolina voters.

This confusion has created an ecosystem in which people on both sides of the issue have taken to the web to consume and share often misinformed content and opinions.

By using Brand Forensics and EavesDrop, we identified an unmet need in the voter decision-making process: a single site that pointed out the unintended consequences of Amendment One, that directed voters to their nearest precinct, and that armed them with the tools to make a difference.

The Variable believes that the intersection of smart data and powerful creative can create change. Armed with the data, we created a series of images meant to shock viewers into action. As these images flood people’s social properties, the hope is that voters on both sides of the issue will be forced to learn more.

Every1Against1.com is The Variable’s contribution to furthering the interests of the audiences with a stake in Amendment One.

About The Variable: The Variable is a digitally informed marketing lab that provides cost-efficient big data curation, analysis and creative execution for it’s clients.